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My executive team and I recently led a management
buyout of IgnitionOne, our marketing technology
firm from Dentsu, the Japan-based, global holding company. While
this type of ownership can offer both scale and resources, at the
end of the day, we knew as an independent force we'd be able to
better attract and retain talent, innovate product offering and
more aggressively grow the business.

As a serial
entrepreneur, I am thrilled to be returning to my roots of
unfettered entrepreneurship, but this excitement doesn't come
without concerns. We had grown considerably in all aspects of the
business during our three and a half years as part of the holding
company.

What happens to a business when it extracts itself from the
sphere of publicly-traded global monolith and refashions itself
as a private company? What happens to culture, process and
ultimately the product?
Here are some important lessons I've learned in the process:

1. Do good things for your clients and good things will
happen to you.
Often, when a business operates within a large, publicly-traded
global holding company structure, there are many stakeholders who
can distract a company from its clientele. When you are
independent, you are free to focus on your clients as the number
one priority.

A "clients first" mentality is the winning formula. By focusing
on what's best for your clients, you'll create a culture that
will maximize success.

2. With ownership come responsibilities and
rewards.
Now that we are independent, each of our full-time employees is
also an owner. We are each empowered to make decisions in the
best-interest of the company and our clients. Ownership helps
reinforce our goal of operating with urgency. If we want to
succeed, we must work hard. And when we succeed, we all benefit.
Being out from under a holding company structure will also allow
us to be more creative in terms of compensation and cultural
perks.

3. Independence means innovation.
You cannot succeed as a technology company without innovation,
and as an independent company, Caldwellyour hardest decisions
will be what not to work on. There is no time for bureaucracy or
petty politics when the team has a unified freedom to dare and
execute. As masters of your own destiny, you also open the doors
for infinite possibilities. What will you focus your energies on
next? What new capabilities will you be first to the market with
next?